


Permanent Reminder

by PhantomEmpress



Category: G.I. Joe - All Media Types
Genre: Brainwashing, F/M, Face-Sitting, Grief/Mourning, Just Add Ninjas, Loss, Memories, Oral Sex, Porn with Feelings, Rough Sex, Sexual exploration, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:00:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24981982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomEmpress/pseuds/PhantomEmpress
Summary: Scarlett remembers Snake Eyes in a series of flash backs while she prepares for Dawn's Tattoo ceremony.
Relationships: Shana "Scarlett" M. O'Hara/Snake-Eyes
Comments: 7
Kudos: 12





	1. Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> Recently, I’ve caught up with all the G.I. Joe comics to date. As unhappy as I am with where the comic went as far as killing off Snake Eyes, having Sean Collins become the ‘new’ Snake Eyes, the crazy memory download extravaganza with Dawn Moreno (no hate, I actually like her story), it affords me the opportunity to explore loss; namely the loss of your lover after 15+ years together. How many beautiful, painful, funny memories would the bereaved have?  
> AND because I’m absolute trash, that exploration of loss is through the filter of smut and romance.

Though rustic and hidden in the woods, Obake Obaasan’s house had excellent water pressure. Scarlett stood in the steamy shower, just letting the hot water pound her back and shoulders. Memories of the last time she was here it was with Snake eyes plagued her. It was ages ago, it seemed, since they had traveled to Japan to visit Obaasan and help Tommy through his recovery after Cobra’s latest attempt at brainwashing him.

 _As she finished rinsing her hair, a hand slid up her side and she resisted the urge to shiver_.

“ _Wanting to conserve water?” she said with a smile playing at her lips as her lover joined her in the small shower. He was drenched in sweat, skin warm and flushed from his morning sparring session with Tommy and, judging from his playful mood, it was a good work out. He pushed her hair out of her face as she tipped her chin up to kiss him. He smiled against her lips and then deepened the kiss as his hands skimmed down to cup her behind. Sighing into his kiss, she felt his erection against her belly and her body responded with its own warmth and eagerness. He moved to pick her up and Shana wrapped her legs around his waist as he lifted her, a yelp of surprise escaping her as he pressed her back to the cool tiled wall of the shower. Reaching down between their bodies, she pumped him in her fist before he slowly pushed into her._

_“shhhhhhh….” He hissed into her ear and she bit back the moan he’d elicited. Granny, like Tommy, had the ear that sees, and though not as keen, she’d still know what they were doing in her shower if they weren’t quiet. Shana buried her face in his shoulder as he thrust into her again and again, pushing them both towards an exquisite release…._

She finished rinsing her hair, the jasmine scented products Granny kept in her guest bath were lovely and not overpowering but they brought back memories. Though not one to really pay attention to flowers or botany, it seemed fragrant flowers followed her in certain times in her life. Her mind went unbidden to the first time he saw the flower on her hip.

_“I didn’t think you were the type…” he said as his thumb grazed over the tattoo just inside her left hip bone. She looked down as he kissed the small magnolia done in delicate lines as he pulled the lace from her hips and down her thighs._

_“So, the fearsome Snake eyes is the only one that has a mysterious bit of ink on them?” she laughed and let her head fall back to the pillows. This was their first time in bed together and they were going slow, taking their time to enjoy the foreplay. His hands traced feather light patterns over her skin, mouth following with soft, tentative kisses._

_“I just didn’t expect a southern belle to have a tattoo.” His laugh puffed his warm breath over her skin and made her shiver._

_“It_ _was my freshman year in college. I missed home something fierce and I was out with friends who were all plotting to get their first tattoos. It’s the only one I have……. ohhhh” her story interrupted by his kisses moving up her thigh, his hands placing her knees over his shoulders. She sighed as his mouth met her wet folds and he ended their conversation in earnest with his ministrations._

_As she sank into his rhythm, her hands found their way into his blonde hair, encouraging him, keeping him right where she needed him._

_“_ _I want you to come for me, Shana,” he urged as his fingers worked into her. He bent his head again to his task and she moaned again as his mouth took up its rhythm. “Don’t stop, please, don’t stop….”she was close and quivering as he grunted an affirmative as he worked her closer and closer to the edge._

_Spread wide now, her toes pointed and legs beginning to shake, his hands massaged her breasts and her grip on his hair was unrelenting. “_

_Snake… I’m so close, baby please….” Looking up from his place between her thighs, he met her pleading eyes and knit brows, saw her flushed cheeks, and he redoubled his efforts. He curled his fingers up and stroked the perfect spot within her and she unraveled._

_“ahhhh, Yes, there, there please please pleasepleaseplease…” her back arching, legs shaking and him smiling between her thighs._

_When she came back to earth, he was kissing his way up her body and claimed her mouth. She tasted herself on his lips and was aroused once again; never had someone been so dedicated to her pleasure._

_“What about you?” she whispered against his smiling lips. “_

_There’s time enough for that, I’m here until you kick me out” and he settled his weight on her. He was hard and pressing against her thigh. She kissed him again and ground her hips up against him, “I’m ready for more...”_

_“I’m all yours….” And he sank into her embrace. It’d be the last night she’d hear his voice when they made love…_


	2. Name sign

Getting out of the shower, Shana wrapped the towel around her body and wiped the mirror to get to brushing out and braiding down her hair. The hot water had relaxed her tense muscles, but her mind was still buzzing. She’d come at the request of the matriarch of the Arashikage, Granny, to support Dawn in her final steps as a member of the ninja clan. Though Shana wasn’t a ninja herself, she knew more than enough about the secretive clan to help the younger woman in her training. With Snake Eyes’ downloaded memories living on in Dawn, a strange friendship had blossomed between the two women. Scarlett would catch Dawn doing things in just the right way, saying things how he used to say them, even a few times Dawn would casually slip into signing instead of speaking when it was just the two of them. The young woman had natural talent and was a disciplined athlete; having acquired part of the Silent Master’s memories, all she needed to learn was control. Even the way the girl used her name sign was in her dead lover’s cadence.

_The day they had decided on her name sign was fraught with anxiety to say the least. Shana and Lonzo had convinced Snake Eyes that taking a beginner’s American Sign Language evening course on Staten Island was the easiest way to go about solving the new problem of communication in the team. Hawk has agreed that they needed a way for Snake eyes to communicate that didn’t require the time, energy, and frankly, frustration of him scribbling on notepads. With the three of them sitting side by side in the back row of the Sunday school classroom in a church basement, they must have made an odd picture. Shana with her fiery hair pulled back into a French braid, Snake Eyes with his impassive expression afforded him by the latex mask and sunglasses, and Lonzo with his gang tattoos peaking up from the open collar for his shirt, seated at a table that was just a bit too small for adults. Each had perfect posture, an ASL textbook and a notepad in front of them, and they were precisely 15 minutes early to the 5pm class. As the room began to fill, Shana felt Snake Eyes tense up beside her; out of the corner of her eye she saw the slight tightening in his shoulders, the bob in his throat as he swallowed. He’d never really been the type to feel comfortable in a room full of chatting, smiling strangers, much less now that he was in a latex mask and rendered mute by glass and flames. She slid a hand from the tabletop, and gently rested it palm up on his knee. He straightened up, looked over to her and slid his hand into hers. She held his gaze through his sunglasses, despite the mask she could read him, and his uncertainty was palpable; he wanted to get up a leave. She gave his hand a squeeze, trying with that small gesture to tell him ‘I am with you, through it all, I’ll stay with you. You do not have to do this alone.’ He seemed to mull over her offer for another few heartbeats and then, as though a decision had been made, a truth accepted, he squeezed her hand back._

_Shana let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d held. Snake eyes straightened his spine and as the instructor stepped up to the front of the room, he squeezed her hand one more time and then let go._

_“Welcome to your first day of American Sign Language, I’m Rebecca! We’ll start with the basics and by the end of the evening you’ll be able to introduce yourselves, get through fingerspelling your names, and count 1-12. Perhaps by the end of tomorrow’s lesson we should be able to establish your name signs.” The instructor was a short, bespectacled, pleasant woman with wild curly brown hair who signed while she spoke. “We all have our reasons for learning ASL, and I want to thank you all for having the courage to join us here and to take the time out of your busy lives to learn a new language and become part of a wider community of signing individuals.”_

_Four hours later, their heads were buzzing, and the first few pages Shana’s notebook was full of notes and little reminders for their ‘homework.’ She knew Snake Eyes was a quick study, but he surprised her with how easily he took to signing that first night. He caught up to her outside, he’d stayed behind to ask a few questions of their instructor, scribbling notes in his perfect handwriting to the far shorter and rounder instructor. The ride back to the Chaplain’s Assistants Motor Pool was short and uneventful and by the time they had parked the jeep it was 2130 and they were all starving. Thankfully there were still things to eat in the mess hall even after the usual dinner hours. An army marches on its stomach, they said, and with the round the clock shifts of a working base, you could always find something to eat. Shana stacked her plate and grabbed two bottles of water and Snake Eyes followed suit. They took their trays back onto the elevator as Snake Eyes rarely took meals in the common mess anymore as it was uncomfortable to eat in the latex mask nor did he like lifting the cotton mask he wore in public to eat. She held the elevator door with her hip and once inside, he hit the button for the fourth level with his elbow._

_Once on the fourth level, Snake Eyes would usually take a left and Shana right as her suite was near the elevators and his room was in the far corner of the floor but tonight, he hesitated to take his turn as soon as he stepped off the elevator. She paused as well and the thought flowed from her lips before she could think it through, “would you join me for dinner? I mean, it’s ok if you don’t want to… I just figured, we could try and come up with our name signs and…” He stopped her with his nod and pointed in the direction of her suite._

_Once inside, she got them settled at her desk to eat and Snake Eyes once again tensed up as the prospect of taking his mask off in front of her loomed. Noticing his discomfort, Shana the killed the overhead lights and only left the bedside lamp on to navigate by. Out of the direct lights, he relaxed a bit and turned away to remove the sunglasses and latex mask. She sighed and shifted a little closer to him at the small desk and placed a hand on his forearm as he was reaching for the soft balaclava he wore on base._

_“you know, you can leave it off when you’re with me. It’s ok.” Her voice soft and barely a whisper now that they were in such proximity. She’d seen him through the debridement, the skin grafts and surgeries that had been a horrible routine in his life for the last six months since the chopper accident and his physical scars, though prominent, were the least of her worries for him. He stilled his hand, and paused for the briefest of seconds, she imagined he was contemplating leaving. Turning to her she saw again the full result of him saving her life written in pain across his face. Blue eyes set in a shattered face, a strong jaw line crisscrossed with burn scars and surgical revisions. The left side of his face worse than the right, eyebrow and lashes gone on that side, a rope of thick scaring pulling his lower lid down a bit, and a bright line of red scarring slicing across is lips at a diagonal. The surgeons had tried their best to restore the muscles beneath, but still his lips were a bit lopsided. For the second time that night she followed an impulse and leaned in to kiss his cheek. At the last moment, he turned into her kiss and brushed her lips wit his. Shana sighed and dropped her forehead to his shoulder and whispered, “can we try again?”_

_He took a notepad from the desk and wrote, ‘you deserve better than this,’ the last word underlined for emphasis._

_“but this is what I want, you are who I want, Snake.” She kissed his cheek again, the ridges of scars strangely soft to her lips in a different way than anything she’d ever felt before. Her hand stayed on his forearm and the other moved to cup his face. “I haven’t stopped feeling for you what I felt before all this. Can we try again?”_

_“Shhhhaa…”_

_She quickly interrupted his attempt at her name “Don’t! Please, I know it hurts you….” And he interrupted her with a kiss. Her eyes went wide and then slipped shut and as she sank into it, he cupped her face, a hand sliding behind her head and she leaned forward in her seat. She parted her lips to him and he wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss. At some point she left her chair and was straddling his lap somehow, but it didn’t matter anymore. Dinner was forgotten as they kissed, his hands were everywhere on her and she, in turn, was unbuttoning his shirt, wanting to touch his skin._

_“It’s been too long. Please, let me touch you,” she gasped between kisses. A fire was stoked in her belly as he leaned back to let her remove his shirt and she felt him get hard under her. The shirt off, he resumed his kisses of her neck, his right hand sliding up her thigh under the ankle length skirt she was wearing. He gripped her thigh and pulled her hips closer to him. She moaned as his left hand pulled her blouse open and he kissed the tops of her breasts, squeezing the right breast as his mouth found her nipple through the lace on the left. Unbuttoning the rest of her blouse, she rocked her hips against him._

_“Take me to bed, Snake. Now. Please” and he obliged by picking her up easily and crossing the small suite to her bed. As he set her down and pulled away for just a moment, looking down at her bare thighs, her skirt bunched up, shirt off and bra barely on, she worried for a moment that he’d stop and think it was a mistake. She sat up, took the bra off and reached out to undo his belt buckle, pulling his hips towards her so she could kiss the firm plain that was his abdomen. He stood stock still, maybe in shock, when she undid the fly on his slacks, freed his erection and took him into her mouth. She locked her eyes with his as her head bobbed on his length and a choked sound escaped his lips. After a few moments, she pulled back and stroked him with her hand, mouth wet and lipstick smeared._

_“I’ve wanted to do this since that first time.” She said breathlessly, still stroking him as her other hand pushed his slacks all the way off his hips. “I dreamt about you.” He tipped his head back when she licked him from base to tip and took him back into her mouth. His hands found their way to her shoulder and the back of her head and soon he was rocking his hips to her timing. She moaned despite the full mouth and he pulled back, out and away. Sitting back on the bed, she wiped her lips with the back of her hand, “too much?” she said slyly and he quickly responded by kicking his pants the rest of the way off along with his shoes and crawled onto the bed with her._

_Later that night, much, much later, she finally got around to eating her sandwich, while Snake Eyes scribbled notes to her. She was sitting cross-legged in bed, wrapped in a sheet, hair was probably a mess and she wasn’t entirely sure the lipstick smear was completely off her cheek._

_‘I think I know what your name sign should be, it’s what I was asking Rebecca about before we left’ said the note he handed her, he’d already finished his food at her desk and had been leafing through the ASL textbook while she ate._

_“It can’t be anything vulgar, Snake……” she giggled and dodged the balled-up piece of paper he threw at her playfully. He passed her a second note. ‘usually it’s kind of assigned when you’re a kid as a descriptor for you among the community. She suggested we use initials and maybe the meaning of your name.’_

_He tried out a sign and then modified it; starting with the sign for ‘S’ at his forehead,_ quick and decisive, then an open hand descending in an arc from forehead to chin along the side of his face, slow and reverent. She smiled and around a mouth full of sandwich asked, “what does the second part mean?”

He picked up the book and sat down beside her on the bed. On the page was the sign in its steps and interpretations under the word ‘Beautiful.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a note: Shana means ‘beautiful’ in Hebrew.


	3. Possessive

She hadn’t slept and it showed in the dark circles around her eyes, it’d been a year since she’d had a good night’s sleep. Here, at Obake Obasan’s house, she didn’t bother wearing makeup to conceal it like she did with the Joes and thus she only put on her light sunscreen and finished putting her hair back into its braid. _Maybe it’s time to cut it. I rarely wear it down anymore. But, oh how he loved my hair…._

_He’d beat her to the hotel room. How, she’d never know, but there he was, already disarming and undressing while he waited for her. Her part of the mission that night had been to play the honey pot and distract a drug lord at a gala while Snake Eyes searched the compound for evidence of Cobra affiliation. It required a disguise and Shana had donned a blue sequined gown with a plunging neckline, an unreasonably high slit up her thigh, heels, and a teased out blonde bobbed wig. The makeup and manicure were just as excessive, red lips, blue eyeshadow, fake lashes and ridiculously impractical, long, red acrylic nails. Snake had commented earlier that he hated that her freckles went missing every time she wore that much makeup. All in all, the night’s excursion went reasonably well and as soon as Snake confirmed that he had gotten what they needed, Shana escaped the dance floor and the roaming hands of her mark._

_Stepping out of the shoes and setting the sparkling earrings down at the mirrored vanity, she turned her back to her lover and asked, “help me with the zipper, will you?”_

_He finished unlacing his boots and padded over to her in just his BDU pants. As he pulled the zipper down, he kissed the skin exposed inch by inch and she caught his eyes in the mirror. His other hand found her hip and she pushed the curve of her behind against his groin. The dress slipped down off her shoulders and the weight of beads and sequins carried it down and off her arms. She reached back and grabbed his belt loops to pull him closer to her and he kissed her bare shoulder. Pushing her away just enough to let the gown slide off her hips and pool around her feet left only black lace to cover her ass, and only barely. Over her shoulder, he looked at her in the mirror, breasts barely covered in black lace, a taut abdomen that flared to wide hips and powerful thighs. His hands slid from her waist, one found its way up to circle her neck, the other down to press her back into him with his palm splayed below her navel._

_“we make an interesting picture, don’t we?” she said while sliding her hands over his arms, all the while gyrating her hips slowly against his crotch. She’d never forget the image, his muscular forearms around her, the possessive grip on her throat, the hungry look in his eyes. He bit her shoulder then and she in turn raked her nails lightly over his forearms. “Don’t bite too hard, I may have to go undercover again tomorrow in another ridiculously revealing dress.”_

_With that he turned her around and sat her on the vanity and now standing between her parted thighs he kissed her full, painted red lips. Shana took the opportunity to unfasten his pants and push them off his hips, taking a good squeeze of his firm ass. “mmm, mine. All mine.” She said pulling her lips from his. His smile encouraged her even more and she dragged the long red nails up his back. “get on the bed and let me take what is mine, soldier.”_

_She straddled him on the hotel room bed, his hands roaming up from her hips to cup her breasts in the black lace bra as she slowly ground herself against him in his boxers. Scarlett took out the final bobby pin that was holding the blonde wig to her scalp and Snake Eyes flung the bobbed monstrosity to the floor as she shook out her trademark mane of crimson. He smiled up at her, the lopsided grin his scars afforded him, as she reached behind to remove her bra. Snake eyes squeezed her right breast as his other hand gently traced the still-red-scar just under her sternum, a ritual it seemed, he’d touch it gently every time he saw it. “I’m sorry” he mouthed, as the memory of his sword passing through her on that ridiculous covert ops mission played over again in her mind._

_Leaning down, her hair framing her face as she pressed her forehead to his, she whispered, “It was all part of the job, soldier. You did what you had to do to protect my cover….”_

_He kissed her then, fiercely, and she returned the ferocity to erase the pain of that permanent reminder. She shifted her hips and planted her feet on the bed, pushing up from him a bit as he pulled his briefs down and she didn’t even bother with the panties, just moving them aside to get to him faster. She sank onto his length with a sigh and his sharp inhale told her he wanted it just as much as she did. He looked down to where they were joined and slid his hands to her waist, gripping her tight. Leaning back and propping herself up with her hands on his thighs, she must have been a vision to behold; he licked his lips and his brows knit together in aroused appreciation._

_“maybe I’ll get a tattoo to cover it….…” she moaned as he thrust his hips up to meet her and all talk of scars and tattoos was forgotten. Shana tossed her head back as she rode him, her hair cascading over her shoulders and down her back. After a time, Snake eyes sat up and kissed the scar, open mouthed and hungry before wrapping his arms around her, she returned his embrace and gripped his shoulders desperate for his skin on hers. Bouncing in his lap and bottoming out on his length, she cried out in the hotel room, she didn’t care who heard them now. He looked up at her, blissful, almost reverent, his breathing losing its measured control. He mouthed “you’re mine. Always mine” silently and Shana gasped again._

_“I’m yours, baby, all yours….. I’m getting so close,” she moaned as she increased her pace and she felt a hand slip up into her hair to anchor her in place. His grip tight but not entirely painful, she felt him pump up into her harder now._

_“Harder baby, I’m so close” she panted to spur him on, “Pleassssse, come with me.”_

_The sounds of the bed creaking and their bodies meeting filled the room. Each breath out of her was moan, “I want you to make me yours….” every inhalation a gasp, “…come inside me.”_

_His eyes went wide, she’d never asked that of him before, and with a shuddering breath and harsh, hard thrusts he did, and she followed with him._


	4. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scarlett's flashback is set after the Soft Master rescues Snake Eyes and Timber from the ruins of Snake's cabin the High Sierras and basically all the ninja tea get's spilled.

In three days Dawn was getting her Arashikage clan tattoo and Shana would be getting marked as well, though not with the hexagram in red. Obasan had already arranged it with the artist; after Dawn was done, Shana would then sit under his needles. Granny had arranged for her to meet the artist at his studio. A short, thin man in glasses met them at the door of a plain, unadorned walk-up. They followed him inside and up the stairs to a loft space where bonsai and sumi-e prints were displayed under soft lights. To Shana’s surprise, there was not a single spot of visible ink on his skin. She didn’t need to ask; he knew exactly what she was thinking.

“Irezumi is private, the tattoo carries a message. For the Arashikage, membership in the family business. For you, I suspect, a bond stronger than that of duty.” The older man held her gaze as she reached into her bag and produced a small wooden box.

“it….it is all I have left of him. Obaasan said you could…… you could use it to prepare the ink.” Shana’s voice faltered, her usual strength now wavering and Obaasan placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Shinya-sensei do for her what you did for me when my husband passed. She is a widow now,” she said as she took the box from Shana’s hands and opened it to reveal a few locks of blond hair, blood dried and clinging to the strands. The tattoo artist bowed and reached out, accepting the box reverently.

“I can, and I will, for the widow of the Silent Master. It’ll take me three days to prepare the ink. Will it be the traditional way?” he asked, looking from the older woman to the younger.

“Yes, black ink, tebori, done by hand.” Shana’s voice was soft, but sure.

“Very well, in three days’ time then.” He bowed to them both, the meeting done, the preparations underway. Shana wondered how many secrets the man guarded, how many hexagrams had he tapped into flesh to seal an allegiance, how many widows had asked for a back band to mark the loss of their beloved in ink made from his ashes. Her life has been full of secrets, many of which were not her own, though she guarded them fiercely just the same. The grand prize for secret keeping, in her opinion, definitely went to Snake Eyes.

_Three years into knowing him and two years into their reestablished intimate relationship, there were things she knew about Snake Eyes and things that remained shrouded in mystery. For Shana it was an extreme sport to try navigate his personal history and all the hurdles of secrecy he put up. There were things he didn’t talk about at all, things he’d let her have bits of piecemeal and then certain aspects of his past were completely open to her if only she asked the right question. He surprised her at times with what tidbits of his past he shared with her, like when she stumbled upon the fact that he played the tuba for three years in his high school’s marching band or that he once had to jump into competitive cheerleading with his twin sister after one of the guys on the team had broken an arm playing a pickup game of football with him and the neighborhood guys._

_He’d sworn her to secrecy one both occasions, signing *I have to protect my reputation as a mysterious bad-ass or the other guys will run amok.* It warmed her heart knowing that the toughest man on earth had helped his sister and her cheer team win a state championship with 3 weeks of training, and that he was a band nerd in all black commando gear. He’d shared many stories from his youth and his two tours in Nam but his time in Japan had been a mystery until recently. After Cobra’s white ninja was revealed to be none other than Thomas Arashikage, the cat was out of the bag. Things were further exposed by the Soft Master after the cabin had been blown to bits by Firefly and Destro. After the miraculous rescue by the Soft Master, Snake Eyes had finally been forced to disclose to Hawk his association with his brother-turned-enemy and Scarlett had been present for the whole briefing._

_Later, in the comfort and quiet of his quarters, they had curled up on his bed and he filled her in on the rest. They lay on their backs and he signed in the air about Tommy, the Soft and Hard Masters, Kimi, and the Hard Master’s widow Obake Obaasan; the Goblin Granny of the Arashikage. When all was said and done, he apologized for not keeping her in the loop. Kissing the top of her head as she was tucked into his side he had signed, *I just wanted to protect you. Maybe I should’ve let you try to protect me.* She had turned in his arms and the curves of her body fit into his side. Cradling his face in her hand and forcing him to look at her then she spoke softly, “Just know that you can trust me, ok? Always. With anything, no matter how tough. I can take it.” He nodded and kissed her forehead as his hands rested on her back, silent again. She’d cuddled back into his side, careful of is scrapes and bruises that were still in varied stages of healing and being sure to not disturb his bandaged ribs. _

_After sharing the silence for a while, his hands skimmed down her back and slid up under the tank top to sketch patterns on her skin. She was fully clothed, in sweatpants and a tank top, looking, to her eyes, tired and entirely unsexy. It then surprised her that in his injured state and after all the dramas of the preceding days, he was sliding his hands down under the waistband of her sweats to grope her ass. “Snake…?” she said, lifting her head from his chest to look into his eyes, “you’re on medical bed rest…. We shouldn’t…” He kissed her and a hand slid up and unclasped her bra. Shana couldn’t help but smile and responded by shifting her weight, sliding one knee between his legs and straddling his thigh. Sitting up, she pulled her top off. “If you pull your stitches, Doc will chain you to a bed in medical…..”_

_He slid his hands from her skin only long enough to sign, *I wasn’t planning on leaving this bed anytime soon.*_

_She smiled at him then and took his hands and slid them up her torso, taking the fingers of his left hand up to her mouth, kissing them one by one. “I guess I’ll be doing all the work this time.” His smile told her everything she needed to know and whatever rift that may have been threatening to open between them in the last month of their separation closed entirely. She hopped off the narrow bed and shimmied out of her sweats and panties with her back to him giving him a bit of a show. He surprised her by sitting up and wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her towards him. She bit back a little yelp when he nibbled at her glute and as she turned to look at him, he kissed the little red mark he had left. His hands roamed her rear, groping her and following her curves with hungry eyes._

_“You’re supposed to be resting. Lay back and enjoy the show, soldier.” She pushed him back onto the mattress gently and proceeded to straddle his hips facing his feet so he’d get a full view. His deep breath and measured exhale told her he was trying to control himself. Smiling to herself she reached up, arching her back for effect, to let her hair down and then swept her hair over one shoulder to keep her back exposed to him. Looking over her other shoulder at him, his shocked face was priceless, and she leaned forward a little more to slide her hands down his thighs. On her way back up, she sat up off his tented lap and slid a hand down and made a show of touching herself, though her moan was genuine._

_“Don’t you want to touch me, Snake?” she said coyly over her shoulder as her other hand stroked him through his pants. Again, she heard a measured exhale, but his body betrayed him and he ground his erection into her hand as his calloused hands slid up her calves. Hooking her thumbs under his waistband and pushing the pants down his thighs, she freed him and stroked him slowly with a firm grip and heard him gasp. “Its been too long since I’ve touched you.” His strong hands groped her hamstrings and moved further up, spreading her wide, anticipating her sliding onto his length._

_“No, I don’t think I’ll ride it just yet.” And his choked sound sounded almost like a whine in his disappointment, “let’s try something a little different, ok?” She turned to look back at him and he nodded enthusiastically while kicking his pants the rest of the way off. She had to look away to not kill the mood with laughter, so she tipped her body down and pressed her breasts to his thighs, his hard on pressing against her belly. Scooting back over his body on all fours, she felt his hands grip her thighs to pull her closer, her hand again stroking him slowly, the other hand between her own thighs, “I know you can keep a secret. Do you want to see what I do when you’re not here?” She dipped her fingers further in, she was slick and wanting and gyrated her hips in time with the stroking of his cock. “It makes me so wet thinking about tasting you. I wake up at night, my pussy wet, mouth watering, thinking about sucking you off.” She dipped two fingers all the way inside herself and sighed, “my fingers are never enough, Snake.” Her slow, firm gripped pace on his cock had to have been torture because his grip on her ass was almost enough to bruise her flesh. She’d moved back enough to easily dip her head down and take the tip into her mouth, her tongue swirling over the head of his dick teasingly. He, for his part did not miss the opportunity presented to him and kissed the inside of her left thigh, then the right and then, pulling her hips down to meet him, licked the fingers she’d been stroking herself with. Removing her hand, she made way for him to lick her and she continued to suck and stroke him._

_They found their rhythm together and soon Shana was moaning around a full mouth and Snake Eyes’ hips were jerking up to try and burry himself deeper between her lips. All the signs of his impending orgasm were there and she knew he’d want to stop her from swallowing but in that moment it was all that she wanted. She was getting so very close too, she was grinding herself back into his face as he feasted on her. “Snake! I’m so close, darling.” She said, not breaking the rhythm with her hand, stroking him faster now, her breath hot on his thighs, his tongue working circles and figure eights around her clit._

_“I want to taste you,” she went right back to sucking him and the snapping of his hips up into her hands and mouth was debauched and hedonistic. “Come for me.” She said, barely pull him from her mouth to say, “I want to taste your cum!” and with 3 more long hard sucks, she felt him tense. Pulling his mouth away from her pussy, a harsh sound came from his throat as he came in her mouth and the shuddering of his body under her fed some dark, base desire in her. After a few moments, he took a few deeper breaths and reached for her hips again. “Wait.” He paused, hands in midair, softening cock still in her hand. “I want to see your face while you make me come.”_

_Adjusting their positions, she had turned and straddled his head, facing the headboard now. He looked up at her from between her thighs and went back to tracing the alphabet with his tongue on her clit while keeping her in place with a firm grip on her hips. “Oh,…. My… Starsss” she gasped and gripped the headboard with one hand and his hair with the other. “Please…” She moaned and writhed over him and every time she thought it was too much, he just gave her more. “I’m Coming! I’m Coming! Oh Fuck, Ooohhhh …” She shook as waves of pleasure crashed, stars exploded behind her eyes and between her shaking thighs was a very smug boyfriend looking entirely too satisfied at his handy work. He patted her thigh and she sat up to free him from underneath her, still panting and gulping air after her orgasm subsided. Slowly she released the headboard and they stretched out on his narrow bed, spent._

_*I’ve never done THAT before.* He signed, slowly, still fatigued from his injuries and now sluggish with the sleepiness that he only ever felt after sex with her._

_“Hmmm? Oh, 69? Me neither.” She was still coming down, “I’m glad it was with you.”_

_*well, if there is anything else you want to try…* he signed as she tried to settle herself into the bed with him. She giggled as he pulled her closer into his side. *I’ll try to be available for you any time you wake up wanting.*_

_“you better…”_


	5. Bourbon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not a smutty chapter, but i needed to write it. Also, look up the ASL for bullshit, it's great.

“In the old days there would be three days of austerities and mediation before a tattoo, but I think you and I should go about this the same way I did when I gave Shinya-sensei my husband’s ashes,” Granny said as she and Shana stepped out onto the golden light of sunset.

Shana looked down the street and then back at granny “I don’t think I’m one for prayer and ablutions, Granny…”

“Who said anything about that? Let’s go get some noodles and bourbon. It’s what I did before Shinya gave me my band.”

“Bourbon?” the raised eyebrow on Shana’s face made Granny smile slyly.

“Of course! If there’s one thing Americans have gotten right it’s Jack Daniel’s. Anyway, Dawn will be meeting us for her last meal before her own austerities and rites begin.” She remembered Snake Eyes saying something about Granny’s preference for whiskey over the more ’traditional’ sake….

_Shana was surprised when, on their drive down to Atlanta from the Pit for her youngest brother’s wedding, he said he wanted to take short detour in Tennessee. If they drove straight through, it was about a 28 hour drive, but they had planned to stop and break the drive up over 3 days and Tennessee was as good a place as any to stop and relax overnight. Snake Eyes wasn’t the sightseeing type, but he matched her desire to spend time together driving cross country. When he suggested they could go on the Jack Daniels Distillery tour in Lynchburg, again her surprised face was genuine. The drive so far had been lovely, and his hand was warm on her skin where it rested on her knee while he drove the jeep._

_“The tour? Do you have a fever? Have we been driving too long? Are you Zartan in disguise?” her voice must have dripped with her accent because he snorted a laugh. “Did you hit your head somehow without me noticing? You really want to do the tour?!”_

_His panting laugh at her reaction made her smile even more and he signed as best he could while keeping a hand on the steering wheel that he was perfectly healthy and sane, he just figured it would be an interesting thing to do with her. *They have a whiskey tasting flight too.*_

_“Snake you know you don’t have to get me drunk to have your way with me.” She joked and he pinched her bare thigh in response. She was in an off shoulder oversized shirt, cut off shorts and sandals, as it was warm still for late September. When she was on base or around the rest of the team, she was always put together and ‘Scarlett’; fighting togs, uniform or if out of uniform, she generally wore far more modest clothing. When they were on leave she barely wore make up and was far more relaxed about her clothing opting for comfort and ease when most of the time. And it didn’t hurt that he couldn’t keep his hands off her when she was in her ‘comfy’ attire._

_*You have a dirty mind* he signed and then went back to resting his hand on her knee._

_“you didn’t mind how dirty that mind could get last night…” he coughed and she laughed again. These were the times she enjoyed the most, the easy laughter, the lazy swirls he drew on her skin with his fingertips when he thought no one was looking, just being a couple doing ‘normal couple things’. These times were few and far between for them as of late with the move to the new Pit in Utah, Storm Shadow defecting to their side and the expansion of the Joe team, they were both so busy that they barely had time to relax. This vacation had been planned for a few months, and as soon as Shana got the call from her brother that he and his fiancée had set the date for their wedding, she invited Snake and sent back her RSVP with him as her plus one. Though Snake Eyes had met her immediate family, she was worried he’d say no to going to a huge southern wedding with a guest list more than 200 names long. But he didn’t take any convincing and had just said yes when she asked him and the plans for two weeks of leave were underway._

_Arriving in Lynchburg in the early afternoon allowed them to find lodging at the town’s bed and breakfast, get freshened up, and walk over to the distillery with time to spare for the last tour of the day. She had changed into a sun dress and straw hat, and Snake decided to put on his latex mask, it’d be easier than dealing with stares or questions. They arrived at the visitor’s center just as the last tour was being announced, Snake Eyes had figured if it was the last tour, there would be fewer people and his guess was right. The tour group was small and the sweet, older woman that lead the group through the features of the distillery kept them all entertained with facts and figures about the famous “old no. 7” whiskey._

_They came to a cave, cool and damp, that echoes with drops of water. The tour guide explained this history surrounding the cave and it’s spring, the source of the distillery’s water and part of why Jack Daniel’s whiskey was so good. Shana stood with Snake Eyes in the cave, enjoying the respite from the summer heat outside._

_*This cave reminds me of where my sword was forged. Onihashi had his forge up the mountain and sourced his water from a spring in a cave like this* he signed in the dim light of the shallow cave. *He had said something about that particular spring made the blades the best in the world.*_

_*I wish I could’ve met him. From seeing your blade and Tommy’s, he was an amazing craftsman.* she chose to sign as to keep the conversation silent and to not interrupt the tour guide._

_*He really was, and a great teacher.” She couldn’t see his true expression, but from the set of his jaw, she could tell it was a bittersweet memory. Shifting closer to him, she slipped an arm around his waist and he let her in, draping his arm across her shoulders casually and his thumb softly stroking circles into her deltoid. They lingered a few moments longer as the rest of the tour group began to move on to the next feature and, as the chatter of the group died away, she could hear the trickling of the water, gentle and constant. She leaned into his side and breathed deeply, inhaling cool, damp air, the green smell of a southern summer, and him, his scent._

_Standing there with him in the dark, listening to ancient water slowly chiseling its way through stone, something in her coiled and clenched; she’d never known peaceful moments like this with anyone else, nor did she really want to. Their relationship was tumultuous and fraught with dramas and separations, secrets and disasters, but five years in she didn’t want anything or anyone else. He was like the water, gentle and constant with her, a rage and a torrent with his enemies, patient and still when teaching and training. In the quiet dark of that cave, with his arm wrapped around her, his thumb with its lazy calligraphy on her skin, she knew this man would be the last, the one she’d want to father her children, to grow old with and meet the winter of her life beside. Despite or , perhaps more likely, because of his nature, she loved him. He gave her a gentle squeeze, breaking her reverie, released her and signed, *We should catch up to the group.*_

_“Yeah,” she sighed, looking up to meet his eyes behind the sunglasses. “let’s go.”_

_As they came to the end of the tour in the barrel house, where hundreds of barrels of whiskey were stored, they entered the tasting room to sample sips of all the varieties of whiskey available. The room was dimly lit, a warm amber light that made the whiskey sparkle in the tiny shot glasses that were arranged on the tables. They seated themselves near the rear of the group and enjoyed the samples side by side, her thigh touching his and again his hand on her knee. The warmth spreading through her from the whiskey was pleasant and though she didn’t drink often, she could hold her liquor when needed and Snake seemed entirely unaffected._

_*I think I’m going to send granny a bottle of number 7.* he signed as they left the barrel house and finished the tour in the visitor center’s shop. *Whiskey was her drink of choice for celebrations.*_

_“I think she’d like that. Sounds like she’s a firecracker. I hope to meet her sometime.” Shana replied as they perused the bottles on offer._

_*You two would get along. She’s sharp as a tack and doesn’t take any bullshit,* she smiled at the sign for bullshit, it always made her laugh, *and can hold her own against any one in a fight, like you.*_

_Blushing at the compliment, “definitely my kind of granny, then.” She laughed again as he selected a bottle and they made their way to the counter._

_*Excellent choice, sir. Can I help you with any gift wrapping or shipping?* the cashier addressed Snake Eyes in ASL and spoke out loud as well, which caught them both by surprise. When she looked at the young man and saw the hearing aids she understood why._

_*Yes, thank you. We’d like to gift wrap and ship this bottle.*_


End file.
